Spindle attachment for vehicles.



No. 630,995. Patented Aug.|5, |899.

0. F. SKINNEB. SPINDLE ATTACHMENT FOR VEHICLES.

lApplication filed Feb. 28, 1898.)

No Model.)

//f 'la UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ORSON F. SKINNER, OF SUNFIELD, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO WV. J. RAMSEY, OF SAME PLACE.

SPINDLE ATTACHMENT FOR VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 630,995, dated August I5, 1899.

Application filed February 28, 1898. Serial No. 672,088. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it 771/603/ concern:

Be it known that I, ORSON F. SKINNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sunfield,in the county of Eaton and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Attachment for Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

lWIy invention relates to improvements in attachments for vehicles, such as wagons and buggies; and the primary object that I have in view is to provide means by which the vehicle may be used as a wheeled structure during the seasons of the year when the roads are passable for wheeled vehicles or it may be converted into a bob-sled for use during the winter seasons, when the ground is covered with snow and ice.

A further object is to provide an improved construction of the axle adapted for use in connection with either a wheel-spindle or a bob-sled hanger, said devices being interchangeable one with the other on the improved construction of the axle.

A further object is to provide an improved construction of the bob, which is adapted to be clamped rigidly to the axle and is capable of a limited rocking movement on its hanger, so that the bob may conform to irregularities in the surface of the ground.

With these ends in view my invention consists of an axle having clamping-jaws and a clip adapted to compress said jaws tightly upon the shank of a wheel-spindle or the hanger of a bob-sled, said wheel-spindle and bob-sled hanger being interchangeable one with the other and adapted for use in connection with said axle.

The invention further consists in the novel combination of elements and in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

To enable others to understand my invention, I have illustrated the preferred embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which- Figure l is a perspective View of my ,improved axle with a wheel-spindle fitted thereto. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional View through the parts shown by Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the plane indicated by the dotted line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4. is a perspective view of the axle and the bob-sled. Fig. 5 is a Vertical sectionalelevation of the parts shown by Fig. 4. Fig. isadetail perspective view of the axle with the wheel-spindle and bob-sled detached therefrom. Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of the wheel-spindle detached from the axle.

Like numerals of reference denote like and corresponding parts in each of the several figures of the drawings.

In carrying my invention into practice I provide a novel construction of the axle, which is indicated at l. This axle is hollow or tubular throughout its length except at the end portions thereof, and at each end the axle is of polygonal form, as at 2, said end being preferably square in cross-section. The polygonal end of the tubular axle provides a socket 3, into which may be inserted the shank of the wheel-spindle or an arm of the hanger forming a part of the bob-sled, and said polygonal and socketed end of the axle is provided with a longitudinal slit or kerf 4, which divides the socketed end into jaws, (indicated at 5 and 6 in 'the drawings.) By slitting or kering the polygonal end of the axle the two jaws are produced in a way to permit them to normally spring apart when free from the restraint of the clamp; but when the clamp is tightened the jaws are compressed upon the device inserted in the socketed polygonal end of the axle in order to bind the latter tightly upon the device inserted therein. The lower jaw 6 of the slitted axle is provided with a vertical aperture 7 in which is received a vertical pin of the clamp. The axle is bent at'a point between its polygonal end and the tubular length thereof, as at 8, and to the upper side of the axle is applied the wooden bed 9, which is confined on the axle by means of the clamp 10. This clamp is in the form of a clip which straddles the wooden bed and the polygonal end of the axle, so as to embrace the compressible jaws 5 6 of said axle, and to the threaded extremities of the clip is fitted an adjustable clip-plate 11, that yis arranged to embrace the lower jaw 6. This clip- IOO i l m l plate is provided at a point intermediate of its length with a vertical pin or stud 11, which passes upwardly through the aperture 7 in the lower jaw and extends well into thesocket 3 of the polygonal axle end 2, thus enabling the pin to engage with the wheel-spindle or the bod-sled hanger, and the clip-plate is held in position on the clip by means of the nuts 12, which may be screwed on the threaded terminals of said clip in order to force the clipn plate against the lower jaw and draw on the clip for the purpose of compressing the jaws tightly upon the wheel-spindle or the bod-sled hanger.

The wheel-spindle is indicated at 13 in the drawings, and it is made in a single piece of metal. The spindle proper is of the usual tapered cylindrical form, and it is made in a single piece with the angular or polygonal shank 15, the cross-sectional form of which conforms to the socket 3 of the axle, and which is of suitable length to extend into and havea iirm bearing in the polygonal end 2 of said axle. Between the shank and spindle is formed the usual axle-collar 14C to limit the inward play of the wheel-hub, and the shank 15 is also provided with corrugated or roughened faces 16 and with a vertical aperture 19. At its free extremity the wheel-spindle has the usualthreaded tenon 17 to receive the axle-nut 18.

The bob-sled 2O is of the usual or any preferred construction known to those skilled in the art, and the upper length or part of said bob is provided with a segmental seat 21. To this upper length of the bob is fitted a clip 22, which is arched at a point between the bolts 23, the latterpassing through the clip and the' upper part of the bob, so as to firmly hold the clip on the bob. The clip 22 is rigidly fastened to the bob to have its arched or crowned part coincident with the seat 21 of said bob, and said seat and arched clip thus form a bearing for the hanger 24, by which the bob is rigidly attached to the axle 1, and at the same time the bob is capable of an oscillating or rocking play on the hanger, as will presently appear. y

The hanger 24 is made of a single piece of metal in substantially the C-forrn shown by the drawings, and thelower arm of said hanger is somewhat longer than the upper arm 25, the latter being provided with a Vertical transverse aperture 26. The lower longer arm of the hanger is formed with a spindle 27, the extremity of which is threaded, as at 28, to receive the nut 29, and the spindle 27 is fitted loosely in a sleeve 30, one end of which abuts against the shoulder 31 of the hanger. The sleevev 30 is fitted in the seat and arched clip of the bobv so that it is clamped rigidly or firmlytherein when the bolts 23 are tightened to draw the clip. firmly upon the bob, and the spindle 27 of the hanger 24 passes loosely throughsaid sleeve to have the nut 29 screwed:

on the threaded extremity 2S thereof, said nut bearing against the bob and the clip 22 fixed thereto.- The sleeve is thus clamped rigidly on the bob, and the hanger has its spindle fitted in the sleeve to permit the bob to have a Y limited rocking or oscillating movement on j with the aperture 17 in the lower jaw, and the nuts 12 are now tightened to draw the clip and plate toward each other, thus forcing the pin 11a of the clip-plate upwardlyinto the aperture 19 of the spindle-shank 15 and compressing the jaws 5 6 tightly upon the shank 15 of the wheel-spindle.V The wheel-spindle, owing to the polygonal form and the corrugated faces of its shank and to the engagement of the pin of the clip-plate withsaid shank, is held firmly and rigidly in the socket of the axle against turning or endwise inove-y ment therein, and thus the wheel-spindle is rigidly, rmly, and detachably'secured tothe socketed axle. To enable the bob-sled to be used in connection with the axle, the nutsare again loosened, the clip-plateretract'ed, and the wheel-spindle withdrawn from the axle. The bob and its hanger are now adjusted in suc-h relation to the axle that the arm 25 of the hanger may be thrust endwise into the axle -socket 3 until the aperture 26' of the hanger coincides withV the hole 7 inthe lower jaw 6. The nuts are again tightened to force the clip-plate upwardly for its pin l1 toenter the aperture 26 in theAY hanger 24 and compress the jaws 5 6 tightly upon the hanger. The hanger is thus clamped rigidly and1 detachably in the axle-socket; but the bob is capable of a limited rocking or oscillating movement, because the stem 27 of the'hanger fits loosely in the sleeve 30, which iscla'm'ped firmly on the bob.

I am aware that changes in the formand proportion of parts and in the details of con struction may be made bya skilled mechanic without departing from the spirit or sacri; ficing the advantages of my invention, and'I therefore reserve the right to make-such modifications as clearly fall within the scope of the invention.

By reference to Figs. 4 andl 5 of tire-drawings, it will be seen that the bob-sled lies below the axle and that the hanger, by reason of its peculiar shape, extends down fromand inwardly beneath the axle, thus arranging the bob-sled in rel-ation to the -aX-le to'V avoid projecting parts adapted to catclr or lodge against obstacles when passing the latter.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is- 1. An axleV provided with the compressible said jaws, combined with means substan- IIO socketed jaws and with an aperture in one of l' tially as described adapted to it in said jaws and to support a wheel or a bob-sled, and a clamp which embraces the axle-jaws and provided with a studded plate to interlock the wheel-carrying device or the sled-support, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a jaw-formed axle, a hanger fitted therein and provided with an aperture, a clip which embraces the axle, a clip-plate fitted against one of the axle-jaws and provided with a stud to engage with the hanger, and a bob-sled loosely mounted on said hanger, substantially as described.

3. The combination of an axle, the hanger fitted thereto and provided at its lower end with a spindle, means for rigidly uniting said axle and hanger together, a bob-sled, and a bearing mounted on said bob-sled and receiving the spindle of the hanger, substantially as described.

4. The combination of an axle, a hanger rigidly clamped thereto and provided at its lower end with a spindle, a bob-sled having a seat, an arched clip united rigidly to said bob-sled, a sleeve clamped between the seat on the bob-sled and the arch of the clip and receiving the spindle of the hanger, and annt fitted on the hanger-spindle and engaging with said clip, substantially as described.

5. The combination of an axle having its polygonal end formed with compressible jaws, a wheel-spindle having a polygonal roughened shank tted in the jaws of said axle, a clip embracing the jaw-formed end of the axle, and a studded clip-plate applied against one of the jaws and engaging with the poL lygonal shank of said wheel-spindle, substantially as described.

6. A tubular axle bent at an intermediate point of its length and provided With a polygonal socketed end which is slotted longitudinally to produce the compressible jaws, an axle-bed iitted to the polygonal, bent part of the tubular axle, a clamp which embraces the axle-bed and the jaw-formed end of the axle, and a clip-plate, in combination with a wheel-spindle, and a bob-sled hanger which is interchangeable with said spindle and adapted to be clamped by the clip and the jaws rigidly in the axle, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ORSON F. SKINNER.

Witnesses: v

BEN HORN'ER, HOMER KNAPP. 

